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Measurement

Facing Heisenberg at the nanoscale

By measuring the motion of a nanomechanical oscillator with an extremely small error, researchers have passed a milestone on the road to measurements of position at the ultimate limit set by quantum mechanics.

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Figure 1: Schematic showing the microwave resonant circuit used to measure the position of a nanomechanical resonator (the aluminium nanowire shown in the dashed circle) with an imprecision below that at the standard quantum limit.

GREG KUEBLER / JILA / UNIV. COLORADO

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Clerk, A. Facing Heisenberg at the nanoscale. Nature Nanotech 4, 796–798 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.368

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